Allegory of Fertility

The Allegory of Fertility is an ode to sensuality and earthly pleasures. The mythological representation is probably related to the popular proverb of the time, Sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus – ‘Without Ceres (goddess of agriculture and grain) and Bacchus (god of wine), Venus (goddess of love) is cold.’ Jacques Jordaens painted several versions of this subject. The painting…

The Allegory of Fertility is an ode to sensuality and earthly pleasures. The mythological representation is probably related to the popular proverb of the time, Sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus – ‘Without Ceres (goddess of agriculture and grain) and Bacchus (god of wine), Venus (goddess of love) is cold.’ Jacques Jordaens painted several versions of this subject. The painting we see here was probably executed by studio assistants. Like Peter Paul Rubens, Jordaens had a studio in which numerous apprentices and fellow painters worked for him doing sections of or even whole paintings which he had been commissioned to carry out.